VW has used the DuPage County Fairgrounds and, quite frankly, the cooking facilities are an abomination. College of DuPage used to have decent space for things like fighter practice, but over the years have remodeled the spaces and made them unsuitable. In addition, College of DuPage's food service contractor jealously guards any and all food served on campus and is not agreeable to letting others serve, let alone cook on campus. I still have contacts at COD and can check out the possibilities, but I don't hold out much hope.

Tedesco da Venezia <tedesco@...> wrote:

Also as a matter of keeping this all-Ayreton and not anchored to one shire, I would LIKE to shy away from using any existing event sites so there's not a tendency towards "This is the MKAOD site, so it's a Ravenslake event". For the same reason, I shy away from Ida Noyes Hall, the Grey Gargoyles event site. (But... if any existing site is the only good/cheap option, I won't oppose it.)

Has anyone (ever) looked into county fairgrounds (such as DuPage fairgrounds- - Foxhunt was at the Kendall County fairgrounds, and it was a nice site) or community colleges (such as College of DuPage, Westwood, Wheaton, ITT, DeVry, etc)? There are many potential sites in these places, and I haven't heard much mention about them. Anyone know anyone who is faculty/staff of any of these facilities?

As a note of sponsorship. . I noticed on the calendar, there's
an event called "Inkin' in Lincoln" that shows the sponsoring group as "{Baile na Scolairi/Rokkehealden}" as co-sponsors. . (This is opposed to the incipient shire sponsorship, which is shown differently- - for example "{Drakelaw (Val d'Azure}}") This is the first time (I think) that the kingdom calendar has listed co-sponsors in this fashion... I realize it may be a little excessive, but could we get all six shires listed as co-sponsors? Anyone from Rokkehealden on this list know anything about how this worked for you?

Oh, and since it hasn't yet been mentioned here, Grey Gargoyles did indeed have a vote yesterday on supporting the Ayreton event, and the result was overwhelmingly in favor of supporting it. YAY!

First, thanks to all who attended the Towne Hall meeting. While some of the people were the same as those at MKAOD, there were also many new faces there, and I think progress was made. This whole thing is for the people in all of the groups, not for me or just a select few of us. Having more input and people willing to make this work just makes this better. As promised, here is a summary of what was discussed:
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

There was a suggestion put forth that the group(s) investigate the possibility of a mid-August event time, as Pennsic will be starting a week earlier beginning this coming Pennsic. This was not something most people were enthusiatic about, and in fact, a couple of people from some groups stated outright that this wouldn't work for their group. Ravenslake is faced with coming up with the fundage for MKAOD at that time, so their money is already being used at that time. There was a similar situation for another group, but I wasn't smart enough to write it down.

So, we are back to the March to May idea. Here's what the Kingdom Calendar says is happening between then:

March...pretty wide open. We need to ask Illiton about Rites of Spring.

April....chock full. April 1st is Palm Sunday, therefore April 8 is Easter. April 21 is War Faire in Blackhawk. April 28 is Coronation. Uncommitted weekends so far are April 7 (day before Easter) and April 14. I would like to point out, however, that as a family that DOES go to alot of events, that may be way overestimating how many events people want to go to in one month. Just my 2 cents....

May.... May 3 is Armored Egg Hunt in Baile. May 18 is Chaos Caravan in Grey Hope. Memorial Day weekend is Crown Tournament.

We actually do have a few in the running. I will give what information I have about each, and list those who are going to get MORE information
about others.....

Hope Pres. Church, Wheaton. Advantages: great outdoor site. Large room in basement (fellowship hall) that would work for boffers and rapier, but not heavies. Only viable alternative for heavy is the Sanctuary, and we have not approached them about this. Very nice kitchen facilities. Good parking. Close to public transportation. Not sure about price for a full day, but seems like they would be reasonably priced. Not sure of availability ( i.e., if any weddings there). Contact person: Anna Rakell (she's a member of this church). We will be using it for boffer practice starting 10/2.

Kendall County Fairgrounds, Yorkville. Where we just were for Fox Hunt. Advantages: there is a roofed "barn" with open walls that is very large, and could easily house all forms of combat at once if planned out right. There is also a big building that was used for
populace and merchant space that could also house combat. It does not appear to be heated (we didn't see any duct work), but we could probably rent large heaters if we needed them. The kitchen is not finished yet (ok, there's a building, and the pipe work is there, but that's it for now), but it looks like it will be good. Great outdoor site. PLENTY of parking. Not even remotely close to public transportation. However, we could get it for a camping event. Approximate price: about $1000 for use of all buildings for one day, and up to about $1400 if we want to include camping. Contact person(s): Several at Fox Vale knew about it. Having a brain cramp for specifics.

Ravenslake site for Border Skirmish and MKAOD. Limited indoor site, but great outdoor site. Good kitchen, good bathrooms, hot showers (yeaaaaa). Good parking. Not sure about the public transportation thing (Ravenslake
people, feel free to jump in here). Obviously, is able to be a camping event. Approximate price: $2500. Contact person(s): Ravenslake people (I gotta start writing down names).

Glenbrook High School. If it becomes an available site, we'd have two gyms, the home ec room for cooking (can we say several kitchens in one room?), and locker rooms for shower facilities. I'm told parking is good. I have no clue about Public transportation. Price and availability: as yet, unknown. Contact person: Tedesco. He is still working on this, and will let us know as soon as he does.

Salvation Army headquarter site in Chicago proper. This would be downtown Chicago. So, public transportation is obviously good. Not sure about parking. Would be an indoor site. Price and availability: as yet unknown. Contact person: Helene Gabrielle de Lac. She is
investigating this and will get back to us when she has more info.

We did agree that we would like to get a site ASAP. ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

Theme

Well, several themes were discussed. One was the one previously put forth ala 14th century Pas d'Arms type thing. There was talk about themes involving Winds, and even Middle Eastern involving Sirrocco. However, then a comment was made about a Mafia like event, which went to Machiavelli (and NOT Johannes), and evolved into a Venetian event. Or at least Italian Ren. The idea that seemed to go over the best was to have an Italian event similar to the Duchess events that Blackhawk used to have, including much for the non-combatant populace to engage in. Ideas included having each table at feast be from a different city in
Italy. Having riddles or other contests that would require the collection of information throughout the day.

People did also like the idea brought forth by Meruig on an earlier post of the Lady Mayor having a parade (I will so get him for this...not sure how yet, but I gots people for that).

The overwhelming idea was to try to go for everything, and scale back as needed for the site in question. The idea of champions was still very popular, and the breaking up of A&S to have multiple champions was also very popular. The thought is to break it up in the same way that the categories are divided for Kingdom A&S tourneys, and to have populace bean counts in each area.

In a similar
vein, people liked the idea of having martial champions from all areas, as well (except for equestrian, as none in the area seem to do that particular sport). So, if the event site is NOT conducive for archery and thrown weapons, the idea was that the Lady Mayor would "sponsor" a separate time, preferably ahead of time, for this to occur. That way, those champions could at least be announced on event day.

Also, for the formal tournaments, the idea was to include not only total wins, but to incorporate ideas such as chivalry on the field in to help determine a winner.

I offered to come to the Vanished Wood event with a "sign up sheet" of sorts, divided into the usual areas that will need doing....feast, publicity, martial arts, competitions, etc. That way, we may be able to get sub-committees going for the various areas. (Oh man, that DOES sound chicago-ish, doesn't it).
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

Next meeting

All Souls in Vanished Wood on Nov. 4th. We are doing a site visit tomorrow night, and schedules will start to be worked out then. Either I or my Towne Cryer will announce it as soon as we have it.

It was suggested that all the groups split the cost, and the profits, but if there were losses that we not include Fox Vale. That was until it was discovered that our Incipient Shire folk have been doing tons of fund raising, and aren't quite as poor as we thought. So far it's still equal shares for all. I believe that the groups that have officially voted yes are
Vanished Wood, Rokkehealden and TGS. Ravenslake was a yes pending when the event took place. Grey Gargoyles was going to vote yesterday. And I can't remember about Fox Vale. I was not smart enough to write these down, however, so please let me know if I blew this. ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

Ok, did I miss anything (probably, just be kind to your old Mayor, ok?)

See you in November....

Acelina

Kathy Westburg

"In life, you steel yourself for things that could go wrong. And when someting goes wrong, you have to have faith and you have to believe that it can be a new chapter."